We have it implemented since long time ago, just not rolling out, because busy with other stuff.
With Shapeshift my only concern is that refunds need to paid in BTC, whatever users paid you, otherwise it's too complicated.

Hi,
Better to address these questions to support@piiko.co
There is nothing wrong, but your transaction is still unconfirmed in the blockchain, which means we didn't receive your money.
Wait for it to be confirmed and your recharge will get processed. We know that has been a problem lately with bitcoin network running at full capacity.
We're working on alternative payment methods.

P.S. never share your order id on the forum, your personal information, which can be found on order page is enough to request refund / cancel your transaction if it hasn't gone through yet.


Hi,
Bitrefill.com is doing a good job. Feel free to use them or us as you like. Prices maybe better for some services and worse for some other services. They maybe better one day and worse another day, that happens.
On another note "miner fee" is something you add voluntarily to your transaction to make sure it's processed in timely manner by bitcoin network. It's not something we or bitrefill charges. And yes, you do need to add it when you send money to bitrefill too, otherwise your money will get stuck for days on the network.

And last but not least, our website was never for profit, it was created to help Bitcoin users spend their coins without cashing out to their local currency first. We do not charge anything on top of prices we get from our providers (except rare cases, when it's discounted for volume)

Example:
we buy 100 INR recharge from our provider for 1.54 USD, and we sell it to you for 1.54 USD.
we buy 10 USD recharge from provider for 11 USD, we sell it for 11 USD.
we buy 100 USD recharge from provider for 99 USD, we charge 100 USD.

These guys, who recharge for 100 USD help to cover infrastructure cost and that's it, our support team are volunteers.

Yes, service would be cheaper for everyone if more people would use that, but with current volumes that's the best we can offer.

Ok, so last week I finalized prototype, still testing everything and want to go through security audit before launching.
But if anyone's willing to help with beta testing - please message me, I'll share details. I'm also going to come up with some sort of reward for beta testers.
Currently bot is running on testnet, so I can send you some balance for testing.

Hey everyone,
piiko.com is temporary not available.
While we're trying to sort out the issue we moved to https://www.piiko.co

BTW Telegram doesn't share your number with strangers, only nickname.

I'm considering that way too, however by default I keep private keys. I know that nobody wants to give access, but 90% do anyway. Coinbase is a good example

Too many settings will only hurt, I better go opinionated.

People pointed to me, that such bot already exists: https://t.me/BTC_CHANGE_BOT

I went through and it looks great, main difference from my implementation, which I noticed so far:
I proxy all messages through the bot, to simplify conflict resolution in case of trouble and to allow some privacy to users who don't want random contacts in their Telegram.
Which way do you think is better? Should I allow direct contact between parties?

Thanks, sure, as soon as I'm ready. What country are you based in?

For simplicity in first version I will just use some market average. Later will add support for formula, whatever you want your price to be, based on different sources

Yes, sending big amounts is not recommended, could be fine for day-to-day cash. Admit it, nobody is using localbitcoins as a wallet too.
Buyer will transfer fiat as agreed with the seller: bank transfer, cash deposit, face-to-face or any other way both sides find reasonable. I will show some warnings for bank transfers and paypal, that transactions are reversible, be cautious and don't trade with strangers.

Sorry, give me another couple weeks to reply to that question. Don't want anyone to interfere just yet, but I'll appreciate help from beta testers when finished with prototype.

Using telegram makes things easier:

• it already has 200 mln users
• I'm not exposing anything, API is authenticated
• I don't need to design website, think about it's security, etc
• There are let's say 10 commands with different arguments, unknown command will just not do anything, known command can be extensively tested with all possible arguments

Private keys on the server, same as any other hosted wallet or exchange (using BitGo),
and bot will provide escrow by holding bitcoin deposit until seller confirms receiving deposit. With manual resolution in case of disputes.

I'm open to any suggestions, it's all in very early stage of development, currently running on testnets.

Yeah, it was ok, but I guess it's dead now, doesn't respond to any commands.
I agree with you, that controlling private keys is important, but I'm aiming for simplicity, so first version will be with private keys on my server. Anyway we're relying on Telegram security here, they can easily run MITM attack.

Building a bot is not my end goal, it's just a way to start with quite limited attack surface and avoiding the need to design things nicely. Once I get robust API it will be easier to proceed with stage 2.

Hey everyone,
I'm currently developing Telegram bot, with wallet functionality + p2p trading (alternative to localbitcoins)

What do you think of this whole thing? Does it worth it?

I've seen Telebit couple years back, how are they doing? Haven't seen much activity there.

We found your transaction and it indeed failed, provider confirmed the same. Sent it again, now it should be successful.
Sorry for the delay, we always advice to contact support@piiko.com for faster resolution of the problem.
Irfan is a great help, but he can't check status of your transaction or refund you from the website.

Provider finally replied, transaction failed at their end. Please, send us your bitcoin address for refund to support@piiko.com

Hi,
in such cases better email support@piiko.com. They will be in better position to help you.
Right now we're checking the status of your transaction with provider.
What do you mean modem? Ir's an airtime, right?

To everyone:
Sorry for ongoing issues, we're trying to resolve, but some customers still facing problems

You're not the only one with the same issue, so emails are required to keep track.

For API send an email to partners@piiko.com, unfortunately I'm not active on that forum and won't notice if you message me here.
You will be required to complete a KYC form with company information and then you get api key and access to the documentation.

Hi,
Sorry about the frustration you experienced,

Please confirm, that you received reply from support, because I can't see any email without an answer.

And since it happens pretty often now, let me explain the root of the problem.
This is an issue with coinbase payment frame, they round the amount to 4 decimals for display purposes and then sometimes don't mark such payments as successful.
Check this screenshot:


Amount to pay is 0.0026, but if you hover mouse over link or QR code you can see in the browser left bottom corner real amount 0.002593, which has to be paid.

We're in talks with coinbase engineers and they promised to fix the problem. Please hold on until then.